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Emulation central - recommendations in 1st post

Gamezor

Learned
Joined
May 14, 2020
Messages
306
I don’t know much emulation but I’d really like a handheld to play as big a library as possible. Should I just buy one of these Chinese made emulation handhelds I see on amazon? Any websites with basics? How powerful of systems could I emulate?
 
Joined
May 19, 2018
Messages
415
When I was doing the 2-hour trudge-to-central-Tokyo work drudgery, I had a GPD XD Plus:

https://www.amazon.com/Touchscreen-...c14238ab77f8391aa241b84098774e&language=en_US

It handled up to PS1 and being Android, everything could be side loaded. IIRC it had some very good shader support too if you need your scan lines.

This place is where I got started with learning how emulation in general worked.
https://emulation.gametechwiki.com/index.php/Main_Page

The big thing is just don’t get caught up in the trivial technicalities of everything and remember to have fun with it.
 

Nifft Batuff

Prophet
Joined
Nov 14, 2018
Messages
3,169
q3-2020-report.png


On the previous report the highlight was GSdx improvements mostly. This one on the other hand is Core changes, and A LOT of core changes. Enjoy!

Written by lightningterror

GSdx Improvements
[Accuracy Enhancement] #3507 (Direct3D10/11 HW) SetupIA, allow sprite conversion to be done on the CPU when applicable. Port from OpenGL. By lightningterror.

  • Helps sprite rendering in Lets Make a J-League Pro Soccer Club (see image comparison below).


Before

After


[Misc Enhancements] Other GSdx changes:

  • #3508 (Direct3D10/11) Modernize swapchain and device creation. By kojin.
  • #3516 (Direct3D10/11) Remove legacy d3dcompiler code. By kojin.
  • #3534 (HW) Improve dithering. Gets rid of line artifacts down the screen due to 16bit colour limitations. By refractionpcsx2.
  • #3575 (OpenGL HW) Fix/improve line scaling. Port from Direct3D 10/11. By KrossX.
  • #3739 (OpenGL HW) Swap DATE_GL42 with DATE_GL45 on sw blending draw. It will allow to run sw blending with DATE draw (DATE Accuracy Full) which was previously DATE_GL42 by default. By lightningterror.
  • #3705 (OpenCL) OpenCL renderer which was barely maintained and rarely used for debug purposes only has been completely removed in our quest for cleaning up the codebase. By lightningterror.
  • #3706, 0c67dc9 (HW) Add dithering option to HW renderers. By RedDevilus and lightningterror.
    • Dropdown menu for 3 options: Off (No Effect/ Been always like this), Scaled (Strongest effect/obvious), Unscaled (Weakest effect/less obvious)
    • Change Default dithering mode from Scaled to Unscaled
  • #3723 Purge Direct3D11 Software renderer option. By kojin.
F9 has been modified on Windows to have the following functionality:

If the renderer config is set to HW, it will toggle between the respective HW renderer (OGL/DX) and SW

If the renderer config is set to SW, it will toggle between SW and the renderer returned by GetBestRenderer()

Before

After
renderer-before.png
renderer-after.png


In a nutshell it merges the software renderers. There's no need to have multiple ones, and it makes it easier for the end users.



  • (HW) Hacks & unused code cleanup. By lightningterror.
    • #3702 Remove DynamicCRCHack feature.
    • #3564 Remove unused Uber_ATST shader code.
    • List of removed crc hacks:
Lilypad Improvements
[Enhancement] #3323 Remove PSX/PS1 emulator compatibility. By lightningterror.

Removes the capability of running Lilypad on ps1 emulators that support a plugin interface like ePSXe. PS1 games will still be played normally without any issue when using PCSX2.

SPU2-X Improvements
[Accuracy Enhancement] #3532 Correction of timings reset and audio sample rate for ps1 mode. By kenshen112(weirdbeardgame).

Core Improvements
[Enhancement] 64bit Recompiler support. By tellowkrinkle and beaumanvienna.

It's been a long awaited goal for us and we are very happy with the progress of the 64bit work that's been put in recently. That said there are still a couple of issues left to take care of before we start providing fully working builds to the public on Orphis buildbot. Those that want to take the risks and still give the 64bit builds a go then they can fetch appveyor artifacts or build the source code themselves and give it a go
smile.gif

Performance should be -/+ 5% for anyone expecting huge performance gains. For the technical details see the following PRs below.

  • #3524 Moves all VTLB pointer manipulation into dedicated classes for the purpose, which should allow the algorithm to be changed much more easily in the future.
  • #3523 Allocate memory in an x86-64-compatible way.
  • #3512 Fix codegen on x86-64. Makes x86emitter emit the x86-64 machine code you would expect it to.
  • #3608 64-bit recompilers. Makes recompilers compatible with x86-64.
[Accuracy Enhancement] #3537 EE/IOP: Timer Interrupt Handling. By refractionpcsx2 and PSI-Rockin, backport from Dobiestation.

  • Don't interrupt if compare/overflow flag is already set.
  • Removed GameDB patches for Harry Potter Prisoner of Azkaban and Chamber of Secrets as they are no longer required.
PSI-Rockin made an excellent post explaining the functionality/technical details. You can read more about it here.

[Accuracy Enhancement] #3539 VIF: VIF MSCAL instructions wait on VU T-Bit stop. By refractionpcsx2.

Fixes the following games from crashing, and removes gamedb patches for them since they now work properly:

  • The Sims
  • Spiderman 3
  • Sharks Tale
  • Maybe some bits of Over the Hedge
  • Pitfall (both demo and full game)
  • Gumball 3000
  • Enter the Matrix
  • Evolution Snowboarding
[Accuracy Enhancement] #3555 IPU: Perform an interrupt on IPU_CTRL Reset. By refractionpcsx2, backport from Dobiestation.

Doing this reset performs a forced command end, meaning the IPU will run through the procedure of ending any command running and telling the core that it is done, even if there is no command currently active.

Fixes Fightbox and Sakura Taisen 3.

[Accuracy Enhancement] #3593 VU: Make VU run closer in sync with EE, implement Mbit. By refractionpcsx2 and kozarovv.

Implement basic cycle counting for COP2 operations, implement COP2 detection while not interlocking, implement Mbit, drastically change cycles required to run for every microprogram. Improved handling of edge cases for scenarios where COP2 updates flags.

As explained here in PSI's blog post, hardware tests proved that VU run at the same speed as EE mips core. This is important as the EE can read values from VU0 while a VU program is running using COP2 commands such as CFC2 (Copy From COP2/VU0), so it is important to run VU0 at the same speed as the EE, this was particularly important for games using M-Bit synchronization (Mike Tyson, My Street etc) and games which start a VU program and then copy a value to VU0 to be used by the new program, an example of this happening was 24: The Game.

Depending on if the game is expecting the value written to be used or written after the register is used, the VU needs to run either ahead or behind and it varies per game, so in this case it's essential that we rely on a new gamefix that we implemented called VU0KickstartHack.

Fixed games list:

  • (VIF) Hitman games - Resolve potential crashes with TLB misses or FIFO errors
  • 24: The Game, Primal, Ghosthunter - No longer need patches to run at full speed
  • Air Rescue Ranger - Ground no longer has SPS
  • Amplitude - FreQ avatars no longer have SPS
  • Gift, Woody Woodpecker, Kaan - Now runs at the proper speed
  • Lotus Challenge - Cars are no longer bouncy
  • My Street - Missing characters are now visible. (Note: they still exhibit a small amount of SPS in microVU0, the VU0 Interpreter does not have this issue.)
  • Mike Tysons Heavyweight Box - Characters are no longer asserting their dominance by t-posing. See-through characters are also fixed.
  • Next Generation Tennis 2003 - No longer needs a patch to fix SPS
  • Nichibeikan Pro Yakyuu: Final League / World Fantasista - Random glitches are gone
  • Phase Paradox - Lighting and camera in cutscenes are fixed
  • Rayman 2 Revolution - Resolved character collision issues with the ground
  • Sega Superstars Tennis - SPS on hands/feet is now gone
  • Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2002 - Fixed player stance
  • Wakeboarding Unleashed demo no longer crashes at the loading screen (also requires XGKick hack)
  • Totally Spies Totally Party! - SPS reduced - (Note: requires EE Cyclerate + 3 to completely fix.)
  • Twisted Metal Head-On - Black doors have now proper colors
  • Wakeboarding Unleashed - No longer hangs getting to the menu on release builds
  • World Series Baseball 2k3 - No longer hangs on the loading screen (game still has other issues)


Before

After










[Accuracy Enhancement] #3660 microVU: Fix m-bit state and range merging. By refractionpcsx2.

Fix state saving when m-bit is reached.
Fix range merging to encompass whole ranges of programs.

  • Fixes shadows in The Shadow of Zorro
  • Fixed slight SPS in Totally Spies Totally Party! Still needs Cyclerate +3 however
[Accuracy Enhancement] #3675 GS/Counters: Fix CSR Swap and VBlank Interrupt timing. By refractionpcsx2, backport from Dobiestation.

  • Fixes the Titantron's on the WWE games (Except Shut Your Mouth).
  • Fixes the frame order for the following games, so they look less blurry and don't need the interlacing mode swapped:
    • Soul Calibur 2
    • World Rally Championship
    • Mike Tysons Heavyweight Boxing
    • Urban Reign
    • Mortal Kombat Shaolin Monks
Based on data gathered from PS2 console tests.

[Accuracy Enhancement] #3683 VIF: Set decoding status on VIF stall. By refractionpcsx2.

Removes an old VIF hack.

Fix GIF resets.

Fixes the memcard screen on Onimusha Blade Warriors, no longer invisible.

Reduces frequency of VIF spamming the console in Ratchet & Clank when completing the game.

[Accuracy Enhancement] #3439 Add support for loading rom2. By kozarovv.

Fixes/adds Chinese bios support. This also fixes a number of Chinese region games with the added feature.

So far we have 3 games confirmed working:

  • Ape Escape 2 (SCCS 40001)
  • XIGO: Zuihou de Touzi XIGO (SCCS 40004)
  • Gran Turismo 4 (SCCS 60002)
Other games on could be fixed as well, someone just needs to test/verify them. The full list can be seen on the pull request itself.

[Enhancement] #3591, #3724 New WIP Feature: Socket IPC implementation. By GovanifY.

An IPC protocol was added to PCSX2. This feature gives you a header-only C++ library with bindings in C, Python, Rust, Lua and C# which allows you to communicate with the emulator and the underlying game it emulates. Ever wanted a game to trigger a save state? That's how you'd do it! Want to make advanced TAS tools? AI based players with a fancy GUI to visualize all your neuronal networks? This should do the trick!

Note that all the main planned IPC features are not yet merged/developed, so all of this isn't possible yet but should be soon™.

For more information you can check the PR's themselves for details.

[Enhancement] The following Plugins have been merged in to the core:

You heard it right folks, PCSX2 will require 2 less plugins now to fiddle with.

GameDB Improvements
  • Other GameDB additions or deletions have been done throughout the Q3 cycle as well.
Misc Improvements
  • #3457 Revision of tooltips/descriptions and other fixes for PCSX2 (Lilypad + others). By RedDevilus.
  • Cleanup:
    • #3652 Remove unused cheats and browser source files. By lightningterror.
    • #3525 More gtk removals and Onepad dialog tweaks. By arcum42.
    • #3611, #3614, #3623 Remove zzogl, gsdx legacy, zerogs and zerospu2 legacy plugins from master branch. By lightningterror.
    • #3688 (Tools) Moved GSDumpGUI in it's own repository here. Initial release has been published as well so developers can download and use it without the hassle of compiling. By lightningterror.
TAS (Tool Assisted Speedrun) Utility Improvements

Forbidden Siren games are still unplayable in HW...

:negative:
 

Morpheus Kitami

Liturgist
Joined
May 14, 2020
Messages
2,476
I don’t know much emulation but I’d really like a handheld to play as big a library as possible. Should I just buy one of these Chinese made emulation handhelds I see on amazon? Any websites with basics? How powerful of systems could I emulate?
I would extensively check the reviews of any such system before buying it. Back when Soulja Boy licensed his name on some of those emulation machines everyone was talking about how the non-Soulja licensed versions of the console were incredibly bad emulation devices. Slowdowns for games that shouldn't have slowdowns, wonky music. I can't remember everything, but it was the hot topic for that month.
Although I would probably trust what Caffeine said since he must have played that bad boy extensively.
 

Gamezor

Learned
Joined
May 14, 2020
Messages
306
All right cool thanks guys. I’ll probably start by dicking around on my pc a bit.
 

Gamezor

Learned
Joined
May 14, 2020
Messages
306
I got retroarch and just randomly tried out Mario 64. I made no effort to tweak or try to mess with any settings, and it seems to work really well just out of the box. I'm shocked, I thought this was going to take a lot more tweaking. Even detected my ps4 controller and had a good control scheme without me having to do anything. I've got mario galaxy downloading now, which I expect is not going to work as well. For a portable device it seems like my best bet would probably be to get a random cheap refurbished phone with a snapdragon 845+ processor and some kind of controller attachment. I wish I could get one that was really cheap without the camera or even phone capabilities, but that doesn't seem to exist. I run an iphone normally, which is apparently a PITA even if it was jailbroken.
 

lightbane

Arcane
Joined
Dec 27, 2008
Messages
10,156
Seeing that I was in the mood for some more SMT games, I tried the Chronicle Edition of Nocturne and the first Raidou game with my PS2 emulator (dunno which version, it came with Tzseeth's video of Godhand). Luckily, they seem to work!
I've seen some posts here about recommendations to improve the graphics and so on, but I'm not sure if they would work with this version of Nocturne. Also, how would I apply saved games files in an emulator? I would like to use one with the game completed so that I can use the first person mode from the start.
 

spekkio

Arcane
Joined
Sep 16, 2009
Messages
8,278
I've seen some posts here about recommendations to improve the graphics and so on, but I'm not sure if they would work with this version of Nocturne.
Most likely not, since CE is:
a) Japanese-only version (NTSC-J)
b) Original .exe file is different than in the "regular" US/EUR version. And applying the translation patch modifies it again.

Cheats posted in mentioned thread are memory / exe dependant, so they most likely won't work (different memory areas).

Also, how would I apply saved games files in an emulator?
You would have to get a "memory card save" file from the sites like this one:

https://www.thetechgame.com/Downloads/cid=310/playstation-2-game-saves.html

Or Gamefaqs (check the "save" section), here's "regular" SMT3:

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/ps2/582958-shin-megami-tensei-nocturne/saves

And "transfer" these to the pcsx2 memory card (.ps2 extension). This can be done with mymc:

http://www.csclub.uwaterloo.ca:11068/mymc/

You can also find "ready-made" pcsx2 memory cards online. For example here:

https://www.thetechgame.com/Downloads/cid=217/ps2-memory-card-save-files-emulator.html

But finding required save for such obscure version can be tricky...
 

lightbane

Arcane
Joined
Dec 27, 2008
Messages
10,156
Cheats posted in mentioned thread are memory / exe dependant, so they most likely won't work (different memory areas).

Shame. I'll see if they work, it shouldn't hurt to try. Which version of PCSX2 emulator you recommend me for W7? IIRC the latest versions were W10 only, no? I'm not sure right now, since there are these unofficial builds to consider as well.
 

spekkio

Arcane
Joined
Sep 16, 2009
Messages
8,278
If you're on Win7 go with latest "official" build (1.6.0 from 06.05.2020 - it's only 5 months old). If you're on Win10, go with latest Development Build. You can still make the Dev Build to work on Win7, but only with OpenGL video renderer and DirectSound Audio module. OFC it can still crash anytime anyway, since Win7 is no longer supported.

So all improvements concerning Direct3D & XAudio mentioned here and here apply only to Win10 users.
 

BLOBERT

FUCKING SLAYINGN IT BROS
Patron
Joined
Jun 12, 2007
Messages
4,236
Location
BRO
Codex 2012
I don’t know much emulation but I’d really like a handheld to play as big a library as possible. Should I just buy one of these Chinese made emulation handhelds I see on amazon? Any websites with basics? How powerful of systems could I emulate?
BRO I USE A PSP

EMULATES NES SNES GENESIS TURBOGRAPHX AND PS1 FOR ME

JUST HAVE TO MOD IT WHICH WAS EASY
 

Gamezor

Learned
Joined
May 14, 2020
Messages
306
I don’t know much emulation but I’d really like a handheld to play as big a library as possible. Should I just buy one of these Chinese made emulation handhelds I see on amazon? Any websites with basics? How powerful of systems could I emulate?
BRO I USE A PSP

EMULATES NES SNES GENESIS TURBOGRAPHX AND PS1 FOR ME

JUST HAVE TO MOD IT WHICH WAS EASY

I have a vita so I might use that. I actually bought an android phone and kishi but I imagine anything higher end I’ll just us pc and vita should handle most of what I throw at it.
 

Gamezor

Learned
Joined
May 14, 2020
Messages
306
I use a Vita for all my retrogaming, it's awesome!
I got seduced by the idea of having something powerful enough for gamecube and wii and gamecube so i got a Refurb one plus 7 pro but i doubt i’ll even get around to using it for a while with my backlog.
 

lightbane

Arcane
Joined
Dec 27, 2008
Messages
10,156
I don’t know much emulation but I’d really like a handheld to play as big a library as possible. Should I just buy one of these Chinese made emulation handhelds I see on amazon? Any websites with basics? How powerful of systems could I emulate?

A 3DS also works well for emulation, at least for the portable consoles. Preferably the bigger models (New XL or whatever, the 2D one is acceptable as well).
 
Last edited:

Siveon

Bot
Joined
Jul 13, 2013
Messages
4,509
Shadorwun: Hong Kong
BRO I USE A PSP

EMULATES NES SNES GENESIS TURBOGRAPHX AND PS1 FOR ME

JUST HAVE TO MOD IT WHICH WAS EASY
Did they get around to getting homebrew on the PSP slims to work?
The PSP slim issue was fixed way back in like, 2013. They all run the same homebrew now, but because of updates some old homebrew just straight up no longer work. Funny if you think about it.

Vita has been getting strides in emulation. The biggest modder in that scene is helping to just outright natively port GTA III to it. mGBA has been releasing updates that make it work better. And most interesting of all, the build in PSP emulator got modded so that it can play games at x2 resolution. Most games don't work but it makes every PSP VN game look crisp as hell. It's great!
 

Bahamut

Arcane
Joined
Jul 11, 2008
Messages
1,196
BRO I USE A PSP

EMULATES NES SNES GENESIS TURBOGRAPHX AND PS1 FOR ME

JUST HAVE TO MOD IT WHICH WAS EASY
Did they get around to getting homebrew on the PSP slims to work?
The PSP slim issue was fixed way back in like, 2013. They all run the same homebrew now, but because of updates some old homebrew just straight up no longer work. Funny if you think about it.

Vita has been getting strides in emulation. The biggest modder in that scene is helping to just outright natively port GTA III to it. mGBA has been releasing updates that make it work better. And most interesting of all, the build in PSP emulator got modded so that it can play games at x2 resolution. Most games don't work but it makes every PSP VN game look crisp as hell. It's great!
Gba emulation still sucks, especially audio
 

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